Swooping to seize the final overall victory with a blistering finishing sprint, Tasmanian rider Matt Goss clocked up double success for the E3/Pure Tas team on today’s concluding leg of the Jayco Bay Classic.

Goss outsprinted Bikebug.com’s Allan Davis and overnight race leader Michael Matthews (Urban) at the end of the Williamstown criterium.

The wins are also good news for the HTC-Highroad team, with which he competes during the season. Fellow HTC rider Judith Arndt added a further victory to the team’s season tally when she proved quickest at the conclusion of the women’s event. The German galloped in ahead of Rochelle Gilmore (Honda), who won two out of the first three stages and who had already sealed her overall victory.

The men’s competition was tighter and stage two winner Matthews had just a two point advantage over Goss at the start of today’s race. He did what he could to hang on to the yellow jersey, but didn’t have enough left at the end.

"I'm really happy to have hit the ground running in 2011," said Goss afterwards. "It's great for the confidence coming into nationals and Tour Down Under. I have tried to be better prepared and in better condition this time of year and today has shown a good sign of that. I'm looking forward to a big season ahead.”

Matthews said he fought hard. “My team did everything for me and tried to bring every break back but I had to chase a fair few which took a lot out of me for the sprint. Gossy had an awesome sprint and I just couldn’t beat him,” he told SBS’s Cycling Central afterwards.

The aggressive racing led to several breaks but each of these, including a final effort by Team Sky’s Ben Swift and Baden Cooke (Lowe Farms), were hauled back.

Goss went early in the sprint and hit the line ahead of Davis and Matthews. He and the world under 23 champion finished exactly level in terms of the points which determine the overall victory, but Goss had better total of high placings, including his wins on day one and today. This earned him the series on countback.

The E3/Pure Tas squad also took the overall team prize, while Simon Gerrans (Team Sky) won the sprint classification.

Things were far more straightforward for Gilmore, who had established a winning lead in the women’s competition by the end of yesterday’s Geelong stage.

After taking two wins herself and seeing Honda team-mate Tiffany Cromwell triumph on day two, she tried to take the final leg and thus seal a clean sweep for the team. However Arndt was just a little too fast, beating her and Chloe Hosking (Bike Force) to the line.

“I think Rochelle [Gilmore] got a bit confused about whether I was going to lead out Chloe or go for myself,” explained Arndt afterwards. “I had Chloe on my wheel when I went past their train on the back straight, and this is also how we came around the last corner. The distance to the finish was too short for anyone to come past me.”

Despite having to be content with second place, it was a hugely successful campaign for Gilmore and her squad. “I’m so proud of the Honda Dream Team,” she told SBS. “Everything just comes together with these girls, we’re a really tight unit. It’s a great feeling to have achieved everything here, the yellow jersey, the sprint jersey and the teams classification.”

Next up for the riders are the national championship races, then the Santos Tour Down Under.